I recently
received "A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations, and a Little Girl
Named Penny" by Amy Julia Becker from Bethany House Publishing.
While I received the book free, the opinions below are my own.
“Things
don't always go as planned--especially when it comes to our children. When her
first baby, Penny, is given a frightening diagnosis, Amy Julia's world comes
crashing down. Could she continue to trust God's goodness through what felt
like personal tragedy? But challenging surprises often lead to unforeseen joy,
and disappointments can turn into blessings. This wise and beautiful book is
more than a courageous story of raising a child against the odds--it is a
journey through the unexpected ups and downs of life and the discoveries that
come along the way.”
My Review:
I love reading stories about parents who
were forever changed (for the positive) by their children. It amazes me how much we can learn from such
tiny beings! I really enjoyed Amy Julia’s
story about her daughter Penny. Shortly
after giving birth to her daughter, the doctors told her that they thought
Penny had Down syndrome. Amy Julia talks
openly about her feelings and questions, her concerns and frustrations. They learn to trust that God will always be
there. While reading this book, there
were times where I would wonder how I would feel if I had been faced with this
situation or any similar situation. I
think I would have gone through many of the same questions and emotions that
Amy Julia Becker talks about in this book.
I especially loved the last paragraph in the book.
“We weren’t a perfect family, and we
never would be, at least not by the standards I would have set out for us years
earlier. But we were coming closer to our telos,
our true perfection, because we were learning what it meant to be human, what
it meant to be whole.”
